BCS 549. Developmental Neurobiology

Professor E. Nordeen

Prerequisites: BCS 507 (NSC 201), ANA/NSC 512 recommended, permission of the instructor.

The organization of our nervous system defines the ways we behave, perceive, think and feel. This course explores factors that influence the differentiation and survival of nerve cells, the functional specialization of neural regions, how axons navigate to targets and accurately map connections within these targets, and how connections are influenced by early perceptual and hormonal experience. Examples of developmental plasticity are compared and contrasted with forms of neural plasticity normally exhibited in adults.